SpaceX is on the verge of revealing the next generation version of its Dragon spacecraft, one which the company hopes will allow the United States to once again send its own astronauts into space by 2017.

The unveiling will take place on Friday, May 29, at the company’s
headquarters in Hawthorne, California. There, SpaceX CEO Elon
Musk will personally showcase the company’s latest space taxi,
dubbed the “Dragon V2.”

“SpaceX’s new Dragon V2 spacecraft is a next generation
spacecraft designed to carry astronauts into space,” read a
statement by the company, according to the website Universe
Today.

The announcement will also follow through on Musk’s tweet from
April, which noted that “actual flight design hardware”
of the new Dragon would be shown. In addition to carrying
supplies, the Dragon V2 will also be capable of transporting up
to seven astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Originally designed with the help of NASA through a $1.6 billion
Commercial Resupply Services contract, the original Dragon was an
unmanned spaceship that could transfer up to 20,000 kg (44,000
pounds) of cargo to the ISS. The Dragon was successfully launched
to the ISS in 2012, becoming the first private ship to deliver
supplies to the station and return back to Earth.

When NASA retired the space shuttle program in 2011, however, the
United States lost the ability to launch astronauts into space on
its own. Instead, it has relied on Russia to hitch rides to the
ISS, paying about $71 million per seat on the country’s Soyuz
spacecraft. According to The Week, the US has racked up a bill of
nearly $458 billion over the last three years.

That relationship was thrust into an awkward light in the wake of
the Ukraine conflict, with the US applying sanctions on Russia
following the accession of Crimea and Moscow criticizing the
Americans for encouraging protests against country’s elected
leadership under former president Viktor Yanukovych.

In late April, Russia’s deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin took
to Twitter and, referring to US reliance on Moscow for
transportation to the ISS, suggested sanctions would backfire on
Washington “like a boomerang.”

"After analyzing the sanctions against our space industry, I
suggest to the USA to bring their astronauts to the International
Space Station using a trampoline,” he tweeted.

After analysing the sanctions against our space industry I
suggest the US delivers its astronauts to the ISS (cont)
http://t.co/FAN02udsW9

Whether or not the Dragon V2 arrives ready to go in 2017,
however, remains to be seen. As noted by Universe Today, Congress
has routinely cut NASA’s Commercial Crew Program budget, and
manned orbital test flights were already pushed from original
dates in 2015 to the current 2017 timeframe.

Meanwhile, the Dragon V2 isn't the only spacecraft battling for
NASA’s consideration. Both Boeing and Sierra Nevada are also
developing space taxis intended to travel to the ISS, and NASA is
expected to distribute the next wave of contracts sometime this
summer.